There was a very good lecture done by Sheikh Muhammad Al Arifi who is a prominent sheikh and is Mashallah exceedingly aware of the issues people go thorugh and is good at highlighting them and providing workable and manageable solutions. In one of his series regarding Woman in Islam,the focus was on Dhikr, the rememberance of Allah.

After talking about the importance of dhikr, he gave a story of what can uttering dhikr everyday do for people. Thus he related the following story.

He said:

A long time ago,Imam Ahmed (may Allah have mercy on him) was travelling to another city.Upon reaching the city he became tired of the long journey and so after praying in the local mosque,he went about the mosque to find a space where he could rest. As soon as he did, the custodian of the mosque interrupted Imam Ahmed and asked him to leave.[There were no television or internet those days, and people rarely knew these great Imam’s unless they were their students,therefore this custodian did not know this was Imam Ahmed. For surely if he knew, the treatment would have been much different.] So to continue,Imam Ahmed left the mosque and went to rest on the door of the mosque, however upon the leaving the mosque the custodian of the mosque saw Imam Ahmed again and this time told him to get up and leave, and he even went as far as pulling his legs and dragging Imam Ahmed to the street.

Across the road from the mosque there was a bakery, the baker saw everything that was taking place. He hurried outside and asked the old man [Imam Ahmed] to come and take rest at his bakery.

When Imam Ahmed settled, the baker went back to his work and as soon as he started to work he was making dhikr constantly. Imam Ahmed watched this guy go on for hours doing the same thing, uttering words of rememberance. Imam Ahmed was curious to find out and so asked the baker, when did you start doing this? [ie: making continous dhikr], the baker said,I started years ago and it has now become a habit,its become 2nd nature to me,like breathing.

Imam Ahmed was so suprised, and asked, what have you gained from making dhikr like this? The baker replied, Allah has answered all my prayers except one.

Imam Ahmed suprised to hear this as he has never met anyone whom Allah has answered all his prayers, he continued to ask the man,what is the payer that has not been answered?

The baker said, to meet Imam Ahmed!!!

Imam Ahmed said,Allah dragged Imam Ahmed all the way from the street to your door step!

Allahu Akbar, what a unique story.

This should be a lesson for us all to learn from,moisten your mouth with constant and continous dhikr…it could be anything:

Life without adhkaar (rememberance) can be a very empty life..and a day without one feels quite different to a day with one.Therefore, find some adhkaar that you can recite in the morning and evening, you will see a big difference in your day.

Allah says:

Remember your Lord in yourself humbly and fearfully, without loudness of voice, morning and evening. Do not be one of the unaware. (7:205)